Christmas Morning 2010

 Santa brought the girls a full furnished doll house. 

Annagrace got a set of Disney Princess Dolls, a family of Barbies, and a Buzz Lightyear

Emmalee got a ball popper toy.

Merry Christmas!

So happy to be celebrating Emmalee's first Christmas. She is such a blessing to our family. Such a sweet, happy, smiley baby.

We were busy having fun and didn't take many photos of the unwrapping craziness. We did video some of it but they aren't uploading right now, maybe later.

Christmas Eve 2010

THE SPREAD

THE COUSINS - LAUGHING, AS ALWAYS

DEEP IN SERIOUS APPLESAUCE CONVERSATION

RECREATING A PICTURE OF MY DAD WITH HIS MOM. I WILL POST THEM SIDE-BY-SIDE SOON.

 PRESENT TIME

In my family we always opened gifts on Christmas Eve and then had Santa presents on Christmas Day. Since marrying Tyler, I adopted the NO PRESENTS until Christmas morning tradition with the exception of  presents from my family. So, Annagrace got to open her presents from Grandmother and Granddaddy and one from us (pjs).

She got a Tag and 2 Tag books.

 Emmalee opened her first present - Christmas PJs

 and then immediately passed out.

So cute in their matching Christmas PJs.

Emmalee opened her eyes long enough for this picture. Both of them were so worn out from our fun day at Grandmother and Granddaddy's party. Annagrace fell asleep on the way home and missed putting out cookies and milk for Santa. 

Santa

 Patiently waiting to see Santa. 

When we got there he was "at lunch" but as soon as he got back the line went pretty quick.

 Annagrace didn't mind the wait, she made friends with the kids around us. If you would have seen her and that little girl in brown, you would have thought they had know each other forever. They kept hugging each other and were glued at the hip.

I honestly have never seen a BABY sit in Santa's lap and smile! I couldn't believe how good Emmalee did. And Annagrace smiled, as always, for her photographer Mama

 I think this Santa was getting worn out. He wasn't exactly excited or talkative with the kids. While he looked the part, he wasn't as friendly as the Santa at Stone Mtn.

 After seeing Santa we enjoyed a cookie and diet coke/juice in the food court and played on the rides.

Annagrace asked me if I had money for her to put in the rides. I told her no and she responded, "that's okay, someone else will." And she is right! Every time we go there is always some other Grandma or Grandpa or parent popping quarters into the rides for their own kids and Annagrace will hop on in with them. LOL! At least everything is a 2 seater! (That's my thrifty girl!)

Such a smiley baby.

After the mall we headed out to Grandmother's to get ready for the big Christmas Eve party.

Home School Pre-school

We are still going strong with Pre-school at home. Last week was "B" week for birth (of Christ), bee, bear, baker, butterfly . . . 

It's a lot of fun. My MIL gave me lots of tips and I found a fabulous website with lots of print outs and lesson plans. She especially loves the letter books - she colors the pictures and then matches up the words and glues the pictures on. She also really likes the "find-a-word." She is responding well. Some weeks we have more time to spend on the letter than others. And, some weeks she is more attentive than others. But, she seems to be picking it up. She runs up to me all of the time telling me what letter a certain word starts with. Like today: "Mom, did you know that tiara starts with the letter T?"

well visit

Emmalee had her six month check up on Friday, even though she is almost 8 months old. Somehow, we got behind, her doctor was out for 6 weeks and we were gone to Idaho for half of October. So, it just got pushed back later and later. 

 These were taken pre-shots. Happy as can be waiting to see the doctor.

75% Weight 77% Height. She's my big girl!

She took the shots like a trooper. She cries at the immediate pain but as soon as I pick her up she stops crying. (much better than my experiences with Annagrace!) I still cry or at least tear up at the fact my child is in pain. But, it's not as bad since she handles it so well.

She developed a fever on Friday night that I am blaming on the shots. But, it hasn't broken yet, 2 days later. She has been on Tylenol consistently every 4 hours. I think we might be making a trip back to the doctor tomorrow if this doesn't stop. Or at least give them a call to see if I should be alarmed.

Tristan's Birthday

Tristan is my cousin's, Alex, son. He turned 8 and he had is party at Chuck-E-Cheese.

 Then we headed out to the Pine Mountain Branch for his baptism.

 Alex and Tristan

 My Aunt, Uncle, 3 cousins, and Tristan

 Such a sweet little moment with Tristan's little brother. He had his hand on his back through all of the talks.

My Mom gave the talk on baptism.

Ma-Ma

Emmalee said her first word today: 

"Ma Ma"

I couldn't have been any happier!

She is totally a Mama's girl, so it was fitting that it would be her first word.

Annagrace's first word, on the other hand, was "Hey." She's my little socialite, so that too was very fitting. 

It's amazing how their personalities are evident at such a young age.

a box . . .

is never JUST a box!

This time - a minivan!

Gifts

 Tyler needed gifts to give to his team since he is a supervisor now, he needed to get something for everyone.

AND, we had to do this on a budget.

So, I suggested monogrammed letter ornaments. We headed to Hobby Lobby (where all of the Christmas stuff is 50% off) and bought boxes of frosted ornaments and little drawstring bags. Angie is my go-to vinyl person and she cut the letters for me. I had to do a little surgery on a few of the letters to make them fit onto the rounded surface of the ornament. But, it wasn't too bad!

I placed just their last name initial on each ornament, tied a small white ribbon bow on the top and placed them into the little drawstring bags.

I printed To/From tags and tied onto the bag.

Viola! And as Tyler said "they are so fancy!"

Christmas Tour

I thought I would take you on a little tour of our house all decorated for Christmas.

 The master bedroom - kept it simple with a Santa and some garland.

 The girl's bedroom (the tree still needs a skirt)

 I love these little trees. I found them at a thrift store a long time ago and they look perfect in their room.

 The toy room.

 Dinning Room

 centerpiece

 I love the simplicity and elegance of these dishes! 

I'm slowly collecting all of the dishes and serving pieces of this collection.

 breakfast nook

 The fun family tree - where we hang all of the handmade, colorful, yearly Hallmark, and anything else. It's my "no theme" themed tree. I take Annagrace to Hallmark every year and let her pick out an ornament. So far she has a Minnie Mouse, Bolt, and Cinderella joined us this year. Underneath - are the Christmas books and the girls felt nativity set. It's also where we put all of the gifts sent or given to us. I'm really crazy and picky and will only allow matching presents under the big tree. So anything that is different goes under this one.

I KNOW!!! I'm crazy!!!!

My big tree - silver, gold, white, and crystal. This is where we hang our annual Swarovski crystal ornaments:

 my antique ornaments (They belonged to my Dad's mom. I rescued them from my Mom's house where they were being put into one big box with everything and they kept getting broken. I wrap them individually in tissue paper and pack them in their own slot in an ornament box every year. I don't want ANY of them to break!):

  and our baby's first Christmas ornaments. It has an overall snowflake theme. Actually, the whole house has a snowflake theme. 

This year, the wrapping paper consists of two different rolls. One silver with fun print birds and the second is a coordinating green and white.

the "fireplace"

We've never had a fireplace in any of our homes in GA. So, Tyler built this mantle for me a few years ago so we would have a place to hang our stockings. I love it! It moves around the house and usually lives in our bedroom and then makes it's way to the living room for the holidays.

 nativity

This was the first "nice" Christmas decoration that I invested in. I bought it our first Christmas and look forward to pulling it out every year.

hall bath 

(no room is left undecorated!)

Well, there you have it. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I look forward to the decorating, the traditions, and family fun every year.

Letter continued

We finally deposited Annagrace's Santa letter into the big red "Believe" mailbox at Macy's. I've heard Santa pays special attention to those and makes sure he sends a letter back.